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PRISONS
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CHAPTER 260
PRISONS ACT
To provide, in place of the Prisons Ordinance, for matters relating to
Prisons.
20th April, 1976
ACT IX of 1976, as amended by Acts XI of 1977, XLIX of 1981, XIII of
1983, XIII of 1990, VII of 1999 and XXIV of 2002; Legal Notices 211 and
351 of 2004; Act XXXII of 2007; Legal Notice 423 of 2007; and Acts
XXXVIII of 2015, XLI of 2016 and IV of 2017.
1.
The short title of this Act is the Prisons Act.
Short title.
2.
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires -
Interpretation.
Amended by:
XI. 1977.2;
VII.1999.2.
"Director" means the Director of Correctional Services and
includes any other public officer authorised on his behalf by such
Director;
"Minister" means the Minister responsible for the prisons and
includes, to the extent of the authority given, any person authorised
on his behalf for any purpose of this Act;
"other person employed in the prisons" means such other person
who is not a prisons officer and who may from time to time be
employed or assigned duties, in a prison;
"prison" means the Corradino Prison and includes any other
place or building declared or deemed to be a prison under the
provisions of article 3;
"prisoner" means any person who is confined in any prison;
"prisons officer" means any public officer of whatever grade or
category, who is appointed or seconded to serve in the Department
of Correctional Services and includes the Director.
3. (1) The Minister may by order published in the Gazette
declare any place or building or part of a building to be a prison.
Power of Minister
to appoint other
prisons.
(2) The Minister may also appoint any suitable place outside
the precincts of a prison for the custody of any prisoner, or other
person liable to be confined in prison, who is subject to quarantine
or is suffering from any contagious or infectious disease within the
meaning of any law for the time being in force; and any such place
shall be guarded only if and to the extent that the Director deems it
necessary or expedient.
(3) A prisoner shall be deemed to be confined in a prison while
he is being moved to or from a prison or from one prison to another
or while he is under treatment or observation in any hospital.
4.
(1)
The following persons shall be confined in prison:
(a) any person who has been sentenced by a court of
criminal jurisdiction in Malta to the punishment of
imprisonment or detention or who, having been
Persons to be
confined in prison.
Amended by:
XLIX. 1981.4;
XIII. 1990.2;
XXIV. 2002.15.
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CAP. 260.]
PRISONS
sentenced by a competent authority to pay a fine
(multa or ammenda) or costs, fails to pay such fine or
costs in any case in which, according to law, such fine
or costs are, if not paid, convertible into imprisonment
or detention;
(b) any person who has been sentenced to the punishment
of death, imprisonment or detention by any other court
or by any authority in Malta authorised by law to
inflict any such punishments, unless such law appoints
any other place in which the punishment is to be
undergone;
(c) any person who, having been sentenced abroad by a
foreign or international court or other competent
authority to a punishment involving deprivation of
liberty for a limited or unlimited period of time on
account of a criminal offence, is sent to Malta to
continue serving such sentence in Malta in accordance
with any treaty, convention, agreement or
understanding for that purpose to which Malta is a
party or which is for the time being in force between
Malta and the foreign country concerned or which
applies to both such countries or to which both
countries are a party;
(d) any person who has been arraigned under arrest and
charged before the competent court for an offence in
respect of which the courts in Malta have jurisdiction
according to law, or is under examination before a
court of criminal inquiry, or who is committed for trial
by the said court or by any other competent authority,
or who is under trial in Malta, or who is the subject of
extradition proceedings, unless such person is released
on bail.
(2)
Cap. 217.
It shall be lawful to confine in a prison:
(a) any person who, having been sentenced to give
security to keep the peace and to be of good behaviour
or to watch over the conduct of a minor is, upon failure
to give such security, liable to be detained and kept in
custody, and any person who is arrested by a
competent court for non-payment of the sum in which
he bound himself;
(b) any person, whose arrest or detention according to law
is ordered by any court or other competent authority;
(c) any person who, under any extradition arrangement, is
liable to be surrendered to a foreign country;
(d) any person detained in custody under the provisions of
the Immigration Act, other than under article 10 or 22
thereof;
(e) any person who has been arrested for an offence.
(3) Where any prison is used for both men and women, separate
places or buildings or parts of a building shall be used for the men
PRISONS
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and for the women respectively so as to prevent the one category of
prisoners from seeing or communicating with the other category.
5.
6.
Repealed by Act VII of 1999.
(1)
The Minister may by regulations provide for:
(a) the good order and management of prisons;
(b) the admission, removal or discharge of prisoners;
(c) the diet, clothing, maintenance, discipline, instruction,
employment and correction of prisoners, including the
work prisoners may be required to perform by way of
discipline, instruction or employment;
(d) the means for facilitating the identification of
prisoners and their classification into categories
accordingly;
(e) the manner in which and conditions under which a
remission of a portion of the sentence may be earned
by industry, good conduct and adherence to the Care
Plan in terms of the Restorative Justice Act;
(f) the granting of gratuities to prisoners and the
remuneration of prisoners for work done by them;
(g) the temporary absence of prisoners from the prison for
any legitimate purpose;
(h) the temporary removal of a prisoner to any hospital or
similar institution in circumstances not contemplated
under the provisions of article 3;
(i) the conditions under which visitors may be allowed in
the precincts of a prison;
(j) the duties and conduct of the prison officers and of
other persons employed in the prisons;
(k) the penalties which may be inflicted for any offence
committed against the provisions of any such
regulations;
(l) generally any other matter relating to the prisons and
to the proper treatment of prisoners or which may
appear to the Minister to be necessary or expedient for
the better carrying out of the provisions of this Act.
Powers of Minister
to make
regulations.
Amended by:
XXXVIII. 2015.2.
Cap. 516.
(2) Any gratuity or remuneration granted to a prisoner under
the provisions of this article shall not be attached by a garnishee
order.
7. (1) Where any person, not being a prisons officer or other
p e r s o n e m p l o y e d i n t h e p r i s o n s , w i t h o u t l a w f u l a u t h o r i t y,
introduces or attempts to introduce into any part of the precincts of
a prison any article whatsoever not allowed under any regulations
made under this Act, or conveys or attempts to convey any such
article out of any prison, shall be guilty of an offence and shall, on
conviction, be liable to a fine (multa) not exceeding two hundred
and thirty-two euro and ninety-four cents (232.94).
Introduction of
prohibited articles
into prison.
Amended by:
XIII. 1983.4, 5;
L.N. 423 of 2007.
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CAP. 260.]
Cap. 9.
Cap. 101.
Cap. 31.
PRISONS
(2) Where the article which is introduced or sought to be
introduced into a prison as aforesaid consists of arms proper as
defined by article 64 of the Criminal Code, or an explosive
substance as defined by article 314 of the Criminal Code, or any
burning or corrosive fluid or substance, or any drug which is a
dangerous drug under the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, or which is
a drug controlled by regulations made under the Medical and
Kindred Professions Ordinance, the punishment shall be
imprisonment for a period of not less than one and not more than
eighteen months unless a higher punishment is provided for under
any other law.
(3) Where any offence under the foregoing provisions of this
article is committed by a prisons officer or by any other person
employed in the prisons the punishment shall be a fine (multa) not
exceeding one thousand and one hundred and sixty-four euro and
sixty-nine cents (1,164.69) in the case of a conviction under the
provisions of subarticle (1), and imprisonment from six months to
two years in the case of a conviction under the provisions of
subarticle (2) unless a higher punishment is provided for under any
other law.
Board of Visitors.
Amended by:
XI.1977.2;
XXXVIII. 2015.3.
8. (1) There shall be a Corradino Correctional Facility
Monitoring Board, composed of such members as shall be
appointed every two years by the President.
(2) If any vacancy in the Board occurs on account of death,
resignation or for any other cause, the President shall, as soon as
practicable, appoint another person to fill the vacancy:
Provided that the Board and the members thereof may act
notwithstanding any such vacancy.
(3) The members of the Board shall exercise such functions as
shall be assigned to them by regulations made under article 6 of
this Act.
(4) The Minister responsible for the Prisons, the Chief Justice,
the judges, the magistrates and the Attorney-General shall be ex
officio Special Visitors of the prisons, and as such it shall be lawful
for them to have at any time access to the prisons for the purpose of
inspecting such prisons and any of the prisoners therein. They shall
enter in the official Visitors’ Book any remarks which they may
deem proper in regard to the prisons and prisoners, and the book
shall be produced to the members of the Corradino Correctional
Facility Monitoring Board on their next visit to the prisons.
(5) The Director of Prisons shall ensure that all prisoners are
made aware of the Corradino Correctional Facility Monitoring
Board and its functions thereof and to make available the necessary
mechanism in order that the prisoners can make their requests or
complaints to the Board.
Abolition of hard
labour and
employment of
prisoners.
9. (1) With effect from the commencement of this Act, every
sentence of imprisonment, whether with or without hard labour,
passed upon any convicted prisoner shall subject the prisoner
during the term of such sentence to be imprisoned and to perform
PRISONS
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such work as the Director may in accordance with regulations made
under this Act direct.
(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of any other law, no person
shall be sentenced by a court or by any other competent authority to
imprisonment with hard labour.
(3) Every law conferring power on a court or on a competent
authority to pass a sentence of imprisonment with hard labour shall
be construed as conferring a power to pass a sentence of
imprisonment for a term not exceeding a term for which a sentence
of imprisonment with hard labour could have been passed
immediately before the commencement of this Act.
10. The Corradino Civil Prisons Regulations, 1931, and any
regulations made under the provisions of the Prisons Ordinance
shall, until other provision is made under or by virtue of this Act,
continue in force, and have effect as if made under this Act, and
may be varied, altered or repealed accordingly.
Saving.
Prisons Officers
11. (1) Prisons officers shall carry out such duties as may be
assigned to them by regulations made under this Act or by any
direction of the Minister.
Duties and powers
or prisons officers.
Added by:
VII. 1999.4.
(2) In the performance of their duties within a prison and when
on escort duties with prisoners outside the prisons, prisons officers
shall be vested with all such functions, powers and duties as are by
law vested in an officer of the Malta Police Force.
12. (1) The Minister, with the concurrence of the Minister
from time to time responsible for the Department of Social
Security, may make regulations for the granting of pensions to
persons who have served in the Department of Correctional
Services or to their legal representatives or dependants.
Pensions
regulations.
Added by:
VII. 1999.4.
Amended by:
XLI. 2016.33.
(2) Any regulations made under this article may with
retroactive effect confer a benefit upon or remove a disability
attaching to any person or class of persons.
(3) Any pension granted under this Act shall be computed in
accordance with the provisions in force at the actual date of the
officer’s retirement.
(4) No regulation made under this article shall have effect
unless it has been approved by a prior resolution of the House of
Representatives.
13. There shall be charged on and paid out of the Consolidated
Fund all such sums of money as may from time to time be granted
by way of pension in accordance with this Act.
Pensions to be
charged on
revenues of Malta.
Added by:
VII. 1999.4.
14. It shall be lawful for the Minister to remove from his office
at any time an officer of the Department of Correctional Services
who -
Removal from
office.
Added by:
VII.1999.4.
(i)
is considered unlikely to become, or has ceased
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CAP. 260.]
PRISONS
to be, an efficient officer of the Department of
Correctional Services;
(ii) is incapable by reason of some infirmity of mind
or body of discharging the duties of his office
when such infirmity is likely to be permanent;
and
(iii) it is considered, having regard to the conditions
of the Department of Correctional Services, the
usefulness of the office thereto, and all the
circumstances of the case, should in the public
interest no longer serve as a member of the
Department of Correctional Services.
Circumstances in
which pension may
be granted.
Added by:
VII. 1999.4.
Amended by:
XXXVIII. 2015.4.
S.L. 260.04
15. No pension shall be granted to any officer of the
Department of Correctional Services except on his retirement from
the Department of Correctional Services in any one of the
following cases:
(i)
on or after attaining the age of fifty-five years or
if he has completed twenty-five years’ service in
the Department of Correctional Services;
(ii) on the abolition of his office;
(iii) on compulsory retirement for the purpose of
facilitating improvement in the organisation of
the Department of Correctional Services, by
which greater efficiency and economy can be
effected;
(iv) in the case of termination of employment in the
public interest as provided in this Act;
(v) on medical evidence to the satisfaction of the
Minister that such office of the Department of
Correctional Services is incapable by reason of
infirmity of mind or body of discharging the
duties of his office and that such infirmity is
likely to be permanent:
Provided that if a correctional services officer
has, without his own default, been seriously
injured during the course of his duties and due to
such injury he is incapable of discharging the
duties of his office, and has been duly certified
by an Injuries Board made up of medical and
other professionals appointed by the Minister
responsible for Prisons, such officer may be
entitled to pensionable emoluments as if he had
completed the 25 years’ service:
Provided further that, if a correctional services
officer, without his own default, dies as a direct
consequence of him having carried out the duties
of his office, his dependants, unless otherwise
precluded at law, will be entitled to the payment of
such pensionable emoluments in accordance with
regulation 16 of the Prisons Pensions Regulations.
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15A. Subject to any regulations made under this Act
determining the maximum pension grantable to a correctional
services officer as may be in force from time to time, where a
person has been appointed a correctional services officer, any
period previous to that appointment during which that person has
served as a prisons officer or as a member of a disciplined force as
defined in article 47(1) of the Constitution shall be deemed as
service as a correctional services officer for the purpose of any
pension that may be granted under this Act or any regulations made
thereunder.
Saving as to
correctional
services officers.
Added by:
XXXII. 2007.38.
16. Where the services of an officer of the Department of
Correctional Services are terminated on the ground referred to in
article 14(iii), and a pension cannot otherwise be granted under the
provisions of this Act, such officer may be granted a pension not
exceeding in amount that for which he would be eligible if he
retired from the Department of Correctional Services in the
circumstances described in article 15(v).
Retirement on the
ground of public
interest.
Added by:
VII. 1999.4.
17. Pensions, gratuities and allowances payable under this Act
to any prisons officer shall also be payable to the person entitled
thereto in other Member States of the European Community net of
any taxes and transaction charges in accordance with Article 5 of
Council Directive 98/49/EC of the 29th June, 1998 on safeguarding
the supplementary pension rights of employed and self-employed
persons moving within the Community.
Cross-border
payments.
Added by:
L.N. 211 of 2004.
18. Where any prisons officer is posted in another Member
State of the European Community, such officer shall be entitled to
receive adequate information as to his rights under article 17.
Information to
persons entitled to
pension, gratuity or
allowance.
Added by:
L.N. 211 of 2004.
Amended by:
L.N. 351 of 2004.
19. (1) The Corradino Correctional Facility may make use of
animals in the performance of certain operations and in ceremonial
functions.
Animals used by
the Corradino
Correctional
Facility.
Added by:
IV. 2017.2.
(2) The Director shall ensure that these are treated in the best
way possible and compatible to the nature of such animals, and that
they are not subjected to any cruel treatment.
(3) Unless otherwise advised by a veterinary surgeon, an
animal that is no longer of use to the Corradino Correctional
Facility, for any reason whatsoever, shall preferably be donated to
any person or body that can continue to treat the animal well in its
retirement. The Corradino Correctional Facility shall not euthanize
any animal merely because no suitable person has been
immediately found to take care of that animal.